


Pay Me Back

by FlyingBlueSnow



Category: Shugo Chara!
Genre: Confessions, Dating, F/M, Flirting, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Humor, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-12
Updated: 2018-10-05
Packaged: 2019-05-05 23:02:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14628858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlyingBlueSnow/pseuds/FlyingBlueSnow
Summary: When you lend someone a bus ticket, you normally get paid back in the form of another bus ticket. Simple. But when Rima lends Nagihiko a bus ticket, things aren't quite that simple.





	1. Chapter 1

“Rima, can I borrow a bus ticket?”

My automatic response to hearing that familiar voice is shooting its owner a glare. It’s not even like he said or did anything wrong. It’s just that I find his existence very glare-worthy sometimes.

“Uh. So can I?” Nagihiko asks. “Please?” 

My glare intensifies. Nagihiko lets out a small laugh. To my annoyance, he sounds more amused than intimidated. But then again, I’m like two heads shorter than him, so I guess there isn’t really a reason for him to feel intimidated. Besides my very menacing, dangerous-looking glare, obviously. Maybe he’s just glare-proof.

“I promise I’ll pay you back?” Nagihiko tries again.

I sigh.

Of course, the one day I have to take the bus home because both my parents are busy is also the one day we have Guardian activities after school. Which means that there’s barely anybody at the bus stop by the time I get there since all the students caught the earlier bus.

And of course, Nagihiko Fujisaki happens to be the only other Guardian who also takes the bus home. Which means that at the bus stop, which has no people save for two random girls who are shadily whispering to each other in the corner of the bus shelter (I’m not even going to question what they’re doing), I’m stuck alone with him.

And now, apparently, the one day I have to take the bus home also happens to be the one day when he forgets to bring bus tickets. Which means that I’m now expected to  _ lend  _ him one. Idiot.

“Rima?” Nagihiko looks both confused and entertained by my lack of response. “Okay, so I get that maybe you don’t want to lend me a bus ticket, but can you at least reply so I don’t end up spending five minutes trying to get an answer that will most likely be no?”

I stare at him with a scowl. I almost feel  _ challenged  _ to not reply now _.  _

He holds my gaze, not wavering at all, his lips forming into a smile. The same serene smile that he always uses when he points out to everyone that I’m faking my tears. The same unperturbed smile that he uses when he teases me about my stubbornness. The one that annoys me  _ so much  _ because it’s like he’s taunting you over the fact that you can never get him to show  _ any  _ signs of annoyance no matter how hard you try.

If the bus didn’t arrive a few seconds later, I’m pretty sure we would’ve kept the staring contest going until one of us died from dehydration. 

Nagihiko jolts back to attention and lets out a sigh, probably realizing that he still doesn’t have a bus ticket. Ha.

The two girls make their way to the bus, and Nagihiko hastily walks after them, his hand reaching out towards one girl’s shoulder. He’s probably about to ask her for a bus ticket instead.

I take out an extra bus ticket and wordlessly hold it up to his face. He pauses, glancing down at me, before slowly taking the ticket.

“I thought you didn’t want to help me,” Nagihiko says, obviously amused, as we both get on the bus and find seats at the back.

“I don’t,” I say nonchalantly. “It’s your consolation prize.”

He raises an eyebrow. “For what?”

“The staring contest. You broke contact first,” I point out.

“Oh, my bad. Next time, I guess I’ll just sit there and miss the bus instead.”

“Please do.”

“Are you sure you weren’t just jealous since I was about to ask the other girl for a bus ticket?” His expression is teasing.

“No. Rather, I felt bad for her for almost being forced to interact with you.”

He laughs, and I can’t help but smile a bit too. 

While he is  _ really  _ irritating sometimes, he’s the only guy who’s able to talk back to and joke with me. Which is something that I kind of appreciate, I guess. None of my fanboys would ever say anything other than “It’s exactly as Lady Rima says!!!!!!” 

And with the guys I’m actually friends with, Tadase’s  _ way  _ too nice, Kukai’s just too lively and energetic for me, and Kairi’s so serious that no matter  _ what  _ he’s talking about—he could be talking about how we have no homework for the rest of the school year for all that it’d matter—just listening to him makes me stressed out.

Which leaves Nagihiko to be the only guy whom I can insult and joke with while expecting an equally teasing response. So in a way, I guess he’s the guy whom I enjoy talking with the most.

...Why did I even make that realization?

I don’t know either.

“I’ll pay you back tomorrow with a bus ticket.” Nagihiko’s voice snaps me out of my thoughts. “Is that fine?”

“I don’t normally take the bus though, so it’ll be useless to me. Just pay me back in cash—” Then I smirk, a brilliant idea popping into my mind. “Actually, I have an even better idea. Why don’t you treat me to a parfait instead?”

“Hm.” He slightly frowns. “The last time I checked, wasn’t a parfait more expensive than a bus ticket?”

“Yes.” I beam at him, imitating that overly cheerful smile he always uses to get on my nerves. “But that’s not a problem, since whoever wins the staring contest deserves a prize, right, Na-gi-hi-ko?” 

I teasingly enunciate each syllable of his name, like I did a few months ago when I asked him to buy me a parfait for keeping his secret. His reaction to that was pretty funny. I might as well do it again, since the last time I did it I got a free parfait.

“Oh no.” He fakes a defeated sigh. It’s clear that he finds this particular way of me saying his name  _ just a bit  _ familiar. “According to the script, I’m now obligated to treat you to a parfait. Again.”

“Yup,” I say cheerfully. “And you can’t resist the script, now can you?”

“Of course not. Well, mainly, what I can’t resist it is the all-powerful  _ Rima unnecessarily emphasizes each syllable of my name  _ attack.”

I try to stifle my laughter, but a few giggles escape. 

“And now Rima proceeds to cackle wickedly at the success of her evil plan,” Nagihiko says drily.

I roll my eyes. “Last time, you also bought a parfait for  _ yourself.  _ You wouldn’t have bought it if I didn’t make you buy me one. I’m doing you a favour every time I make you buy a parfait for me. Didn’t you enjoy it?”

He makes a mildly surprised expression. “Well, I guess I  _ did  _ enjoy buying parfaits with you.” Then he slightly smirks. “It was almost like a date.”

“No! You—oh my god.” I can’t help but stumble on my words a bit. Anybody would, after hearing him say something like  _ that.  _ “I was asking if you enjoyed the  _ parfait,  _ not—not the act of going to buy one with me.” I let out a frustrated huff. It’s obvious that he’s enjoying watching me get ruffled from this. “And that was  _ not  _ a date. It was a mandatory process for you to pay off your debt of one parfait.”

Nagihiko grins, looking thoroughly amused. “If you say so, Rima.”

I just glare at him. Unfortunately, I think that the fact that I shoot him a glare at least twenty times a day has caused him to become immune to them. He just smiles back.

_ “Next stop, Himariko Avenue.” _

“That’s mine.” I press the stop button and move to the back exit of the bus. After I step out of the doors, I turn back to face him. “Don’t forget what you promised me, okay?” 

“Of course.” He winks. “I’d never forget a date with you.”

“ _ Wha—”  _

The bus doors slam shut, cutting off my cry of outrage. I stare, astounded, as the bus drives away with a calm rumble like nothing happened. Like Nagihiko Fujisaki did  _ not  _ just flirt with me. Was that flirting? That was, right? 

A few moments of dumbfounded silence pass before a soft snicker breaks it. Then it erupts into laughter, and I see Kusukusu rolling around in the air beside me in fits of giggles.

I take a deep breath and exhale with an indignant huff. “He _was_ Character Changed, right?”

Kusukusu pauses. Tears of laughter glisten in her eyes. “I don’t think so.”

“What was that? I didn’t hear you.” 

I begin making my way towards my house, ignoring Kusukusu’s shouts of “No! I swear he wasn’t!” as she floats after me, still giggling to herself. 

I reach my house in a few minutes. I kick off my shoes and automatically call “I’m home,” even though I know that nobody’s home yet. I go straight to my room and flop onto the bed.

For some really, really,  _ really  _ stupid reason, my mind’s been continuously replaying the image of Nagihiko winking at me with that cheeky grin. I groan with frustration, rolling over.

He  _ had  _ to be Character Changed.

I close my eyes, focusing—trying to picture the exact image of that moment. Trying to remember whether or not he had those telling pairs of blue headphones around his neck.

Instead, my brain decides to repay my efforts with something I’d rather not remember: the sound of his voice, teasing and light with amusement.

_ “I’d never forget a date with you.” _

I inhale sharply with the feeling of frustration and  _ “I want to die” _ and a storm of other emotions I don’t bother trying to identify.

“Rima, are you still thinking about that?” Kusukusu giggles, idly drifting around through the air above my head. “You’re so funny.”

“Good to know,” I mutter. 

I want to slap myself. I actually almost do, before my phone rings and I shoot up into a sitting position, startled.

“Hello?” I say.

“Rima!” Amu’s voice has her usual cheerful, friendly tone. “Do you want to go shopping and me and Yaya tomorrow tomorrow? It won’t take too long; I just need to buy some new shoes.”

“Oh... sorry. I’m already busy tomorrow after school.”

“Aw, really? With what?”

“With a very important business meeting in order to ensure that Nagihiko Fujisaki pays off the debts that he owes me.”

“Oh!” Amu’s laugh rings out from the phone. “Are you guys going out to buy parfaits again?” 

I roll my eyes. Why did she have to ruin my amazing description? When I just say it like “We’re going out to buy parfaits,” it almost  _ does  _ sound like it’s a date. 

I nearly slap myself again. I only refrain from doing so because Amu would probably be concerned if she heard a really loud  _ thwack  _ coming from the other end of the call.

“No,” I snort, “I’m going out to get  _ him  _ to buy me a parfait, obviously. He owes me.”

“Okay, Rima.” I swear she’s almost squealing right now. For some reason, Amu always gets super giddy whenever I mention Nagihiko. I don’t know. “Anyways, don’t worry about not being able to go shopping tomorrow. Make sure you have fun with him!”

“Yeah, yeah,” I mutter as she hangs up. 

I sigh, turning off my phone.

This is weird. I should be feeling disappointed over missing a shopping trip with Amu and Yaya. I should be regretting my decision to make Nagihiko buy me a parfait tomorrow. I should be calling him right now to cancel our plan.

I  _ shouldn’t  _ be this excited at the idea of going out for parfaits with Nagihiko. I  _ shouldn’t  _ be already anticipating the thought of me and him entering the parfait shop together. Was I really like this the first time we did it?

“Rima, you’re smiling,” Kusukusu says happily.

Oh god. I shouldn’t be smiling because of him either.


	2. Chapter 2

 

I feel like Rima’s been glaring at me more today. More than the average amount of twenty glares per day, at least.

At first, I was kind of confused as to why her I-hate-you-Nagihiko-please-go-die levels suddenly went so much higher than normal, especially since we seemed to be getting along pretty fine on the bus yesterday. Well, we got along pretty fine as in she didn’t glare at me for an entire five minutes.

She’s even the one who invited me for parfaits (for the second time!), too. Even though I’m going to be paying for—um—everything, like I did last time, it’s still pretty nice finding out that she actually somewhat enjoys my presence.

But then I realized that the influx of her I-hate-you-Nagihiko-please-go-die levels might’ve been caused by what I told her yesterday as she got off the bus.

_ “I’d never forget a date with you.” _

I still don’t know what prompted me to say something like that to her, but her reaction to it was both terrifying and hilarious. I knew from the moment I saw her expression that I was mostly likely going to get brutally attacked and possibly murdered by the fanboys she’ll unleash upon me the next day. But at the same time, the pure  _ surprise  _ on her face convinced me that it was worth it.

I almost laugh in the middle of the Guardian meeting from that memory. 

Speaking of Rima, I think she heard my attempt to smother up my laughter—I guess that’s to be expected, since her seat is beside mine in the Royal Garden—as she sends me another one of her signature death glares.

“What are you laughing about?” she hisses.

“I wasn’t laughing.” I innocently tilt my head. “Why would I be laughing?”

She snorts, turning her attention back to Tadase, who’s leading the discussion.

I quietly sigh, eager for this Guardian meeting to be over. I still make sure to look like I’m paying attention to what Tadase’s talking about, even though my thoughts are  _ completely  _ elsewhere.

Almost instinctively, my eyes dart to catch a glimpse of Rima from the edge of my vision. She’s seated neatly on the chair, eyes closed as she elegantly takes a sip of her tea.

I blink with a small shake my head. I need to stop looking at her so much. I’m pretty sure Amu’s already noticed how often my gaze and attention gets drawn towards Rima.

And as if I called it down upon myself, Amu catches my gaze and grins. I look away with a slight roll of my eyes before I quickly scan the room to make sure nobody noticed Amu’s  _ very  _ conspicuous smile.

Luckily though, Rima’s boredly eating a tea biscuit, and Yaya’s head is buried in her arms in what appears to be a nap. I suppress a sigh of a relief. Yeah, I really need to stop looking at Rima so much. Especially if I want Amu to  _ stop being so obvious. _

I’m already going to be spending most of my afternoon with Rima after school today anyways.

A smile fights its way onto my face at that thought, but I quickly subdue it. As happy as I feel about my upcoming plans, people are definitely going to question me if they see me smiling to myself during a Guardian meeting about the school’s trash disposal issue.

I force my attention back to what Tadase’s saying. He’s talking about brainstorming ways we can encourage students to sort their waste. Sometimes, I wonder how he’s able to be so dedicated to Guardian activities. Lots of people consider me to be really responsible and hardworking, but even I’d find it hard to spend fifty minutes non stop talking about trash disposal.

Tadase straightens his thick stack of paper. “Okay, and that should be all for today.” 

“Oh, are we done?” Yaya lifts her head from her arms, blinking rapidly. It wouldn’t be surprising if she slept through the entire meeting. “But Tadase, what’s that stack of paper for? It’s big and thick and heavy and scary-looking.”

“Yeah, I’m kind of curious too actually,” Amu says. “You always come to Guardian meetings with it while we never bring anything.”

“Oh.” Tadase sheepishly looks down at the stack of paper in his hands. “It’s all blank. I just bring it around to look cool and responsible and stuff.” He hastily shoves them into his schoolbag. “That’s not important though. The next meeting is in two days. Bye!” He quickly runs out of the Royal Garden.

Amu confusedly blinks at Tadase’s retreating figure. “That’s, uh... interesting...” She shrugs and picks up her schoolbag. “Anyways, Yaya and I need to go now so we’ll be leaving. See you tomorrow!”

“Bye Rima! Bye Nagi!” Yaya calls as she and Amu leave the Royal Garden, but not before Amu can look back and give me a final smirk. I return that with the most unamused facial expression I can physically make.

A few moments later, and it’s just me and Rima left in the Royal Garden. She didn’t seem to notice the exchange of facial expressions between me and Amu as she takes a last sip of her tea. Then she gingerly sets down her empty teacup and a soft, delicate  _ clink  _ echoes from it. 

It’s a pretty interesting contrast, seeing her handle something so gently and with care as opposed to the cold, indifferent way she treats me. When there isn’t a murderous intent burning in her eyes, she has an air that’s almost fragile. But I don’t think she’ll ever look at me with anything but a killing intent, I remark with an inward chuckle. 

“Let’s go.” She rises from her seat and makes her way towards the exit. “The parfait shop I want to go to today is kind of far. It’s at the plaza.”

I catch up with her. “We’re not going to the one near the school?”

“We went there last time, remember? It’s boring going to the same place every time. I want to try something else.”

“If you really want to go to new places,” I say, “we could make this a thing, and try to visit every parfait shop in the city by the end of the year.”  

I listen to my own words echo in my head, intrigued by them.

I just straight up verbalized an idea that I just came up with right in the moment, with an impulse that was almost uncharacteristic. On a careless whim that didn’t care about the consequences or implications its actions might cause. A whim that followed emotions and feelings rather than logic and careful thought—one that does things  _ just for fun,  _ just like Rhythm does.

When I’m with her, it sometimes feels like I become a prolonged Character Changed version of myself.

She raises an eyebrow with mild interest. “How many bus tickets would you have to borrow from me in order for that to happen?”

“It doesn’t have to be bus tickets. We could go just for fun.”

“Well, if you don’t mind paying for every single parfait we buy, then go ahead.” Rima smiles sweetly.

I smile back. “Of course.” 

_ “It’s usually the guy who pays for the date, after all.”  _

I almost say it, but I manage to bite it back. God, there should be a limit to how Rhythm-like I’m allowed to be. Besides, what I said about dates yesterday probably triggered her enough already.

As we walk past the school gates, my attention gets seized by the bright red-and-white bus that drives by us on the road. 

“We’re going to miss the bus,” Rima says, worry making her voice a slight pitch higher than normal. She breaks into a run, and I follow.

Our bus stop’s located only a couple of blocks down the sidewalk, but the bus is already there, rumbling to a halt. I can make out just three or four people waiting at the stop—definitely not enough to buy us the time to reach it. 

I shoot a quick backwards glance at my Guardian Character. “Rhythm!”

Rhythm flashes an eager grin. “Okay!”

A small  _ pop  _ sounds out as his signature blue headphones materialize around my neck. Then a split second later, I go from sprinting across the sidewalk to practically shooting across it with a rush of unnatural speed.

“Wait, Nagihiko!” Rima shouts, but her voice is already blurring past me along with the landscape. In a matter of heartbeats, I’m at the bus stop, skidding to a standstill. 

The bus’s doors had just swung open, waiting as some passengers get off the bus. Well, they  _ were  _ getting off, but now all the people around me are just frozen in the middle of whatever they were doing, bewildered stares fixed on me.

Rhythm,  _ please  _ don’t embarrass me.

I walk to stand right in front of bus’s open doors and lock eyes with the driver. Even though I’m slightly panting, a pleased smirk forms on my face. “Too slow.”

Why does Rhythm find it necessary to do this? I don’t even know.

But I guess he could’ve made me do something a lot more absurd, like challenging the bus to a race or something. Thinking about it, that’s actually a very plausible scenario, since he has a tendency get  _ way  _ too extra for my liking whenever he has a bit of fun.

The bus driver’s staring at me, eyes wide with a bit of confusion and a lot of  _ “what the hell did I just witness?” _

“So, uh,” he finally says nervously, “are you going to get on?”

Thankfully, Rhythm ends the Character Change before he makes me do something even more crazy and frighten the poor bus driver even more.

“Oh—I’m so sorry. I’ll wait for the passengers to get off first.” I hastily step to the side and the people resume getting off the bus, although some of them continue to keep their gazes fixed on me with baffled expressions.

I look back at Rima. She’s still three or four blocks away from the bus stop, but now she’s walking instead of running. And I think she’s glaring at me. So my deduction is that she may or may not have become very ticked at me for Character Changing and leaving her behind like that. Oops.

“Sorry sir, but would it be fine if you waited a minute for my friend to catch up?” I give the bus driver a polite smile, hoping to make up for the sassy, brash first impression of myself that Rhythm created.

“S-Sure.” The bus driver slowly nods.

“Thank you so much.” I dip my head in gratitude, dropping a bus ticket into the fare box. 

As we wait for Rima to catch up, the driver’s nervously eyeing me, as if expecting me to suddenly snap and flip over the bus or something. I guess that’s understandable—especially considering the fact that I dashed into the scene with a level of speed that was probably abnormal for a human being.

Rhythm and his wildness is going to be the death of me someday.

Fortunately for the bus driver, it doesn’t take too long for Rima to catch up. She pays, and we enter the bus as I apologize to the bus driver for making him wait. I kind of want to apologize for possibly traumatizing him too.

“Okay,” Rima says as finds a seat in the back. “How about you  _ never  _ leave me alone like that again?”

I sit down in the seat across from her. “What do you mean?”

“When we were running. What do you think?” She lets out an angry huff, staring down at my feet. She looks very tempted to kick my shin. “Do you know how stupid I look when I run? I only started running because I thought you’d be running with me. Not  _ fly off  _ and leave me to run alone by myself like an idiot.”

I can’t help but laugh. Really hard. Rima hisses and actually kicks my shin, but it only makes me laugh harder.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I don’t even know why that was so funny.” I manage to control my laughter, but a bit of it still comes out as snickers as I speak. “But we wouldn’t have made the bus otherwise.”

“I don’t mind waiting,” Rima says stubbornly.

I sigh with good-natured frustration. “You know, this bus comes once every half hour.”

“So?”

“And you’re not allowed to get home too late, correct?”

“Not really, I guess.” Rima shrugs.

“And we already came out later than normal,” I point out, “since we had another Guardian meeting today.” Rima’s sulky expression fades into understanding and a bit of surprise.

“Well... okay fine.” She makes a frustrated sigh. “Yes, it would’ve been really annoying if we missed the bus. Happy?”

“So am I forgiven for leaving you?” I ask with a smile.

“Nope.”

“I’ll buy you more parfaits?”

Rima smirks, playfully pretending to consider giving me forgiveness. “Maybe.”

“Knew it.” I grin. “I’ve figured out your pattern, Rima.”

“Oh no.” She rolls her eyes. “And I thought I’d hidden it so well.”

“You just can’t beat my observation skills, unfortunately for you—”

“ _ Fortunately _ for me, that means more free parfaits,” she says smugly, cutting me off.

I raise an eyebrow, making sure to match her in smugness. “I thought that was where it was fortunate for  _ me.” _

She regards me curiously. “Do you actually enjoy spending money like this?”

“Well, I never really go out anyways.” I hesitate, wondering if I should mention that the main reason is because it means I get to spend time with her—something that I struggle with obtaining because of her wary parents, and the normally aloof attitude she has towards me.

But within the past two days, I’ve figured out that her I-hate-you-Nagihiko-please-go-die levels tend to sharply rise if I let my Rhythm instinct take over too much. I think I’ll give her a break.

_ “Next stop: Cephie Plaza.” _

I press the stop button. The bus ride this time felt shorter than normal. Rima and I exit the bus and walk to the plaza. The parfait shop’s pretty easy to find—bubbly, lively white and blue amidst the mature greys and browns of banks, convenience stores, and the supermarket.

A soft chime rings through the room as we enter the shop.

“Welcome!” A cheerful voice immediately greets us. It belongs to a girl who’s waiting at the counter. I notice how she’s wearing a scarf even though she’s indoors. Interesting.

Without delay, Rima makes her way to the display of parfaits beside the counter, carefully examining each one with an intriguing level of intensity. I guess it’s just something she’s passionate about, just like comedy or gag manga.

I idly walk behind her to look at the variety of parfaits as well. All of them have bright colours and elaborate toppings. The matcha one looks pretty nice in particular.

“Matcha,” Rima suddenly says, firmly. “I want matcha.”

I nod, amused, as I pull out my wallet and go to the counter. “Two matcha parfaits, please.”

“Sure!” The girl gives me my change before proceeding to make our parfaits. Rima walks over to stand beside me as we wait. She narrows her eyes as she watches the parfait girl take out two cups, both of them with the green matcha label.

“Stop copying me,” Rima mutters.

“Hey, I wanted matcha too.” I shrug. “Maybe we’re just into the same things.”

Rima makes an indignant  _ hmph.  _ “That’s not true, because I’m not into crossdressing like you are.”

“You’re never going to let that go, are you?” I sigh. 

“Nope.” She smiles at me, although the malicious aura that emanates from her is pretty noticeable. 

The parfait girl holds up two matcha parfaits. “Here you go!” 

We thank her, taking the parfaits before finding a table at the back to sit at. We eat in silence, and I watch as she takes bites out of her parfait with an almost childlike happiness. Once again, my mind absentmindedly wonders what it’d be like to be treated that warmly by her.

“Rima, why do you hate me so much?” I ask, half-teasing, but also half-curious. From what I’ve seen so far, I seem to be the only person who she glares at with so much...  _ passion. _

She frowns. “You’re just... different.”

I chuckle. “Is that different in a good way or a bad way?”

“Hm. Mediocre.”

“Care to elaborate?”

Rima looks at me thoughtfully. “You’re the only one who’s able to annoy me so much. And so often.” She pauses. “But... it’s not that bad, really.”

“Hm,” I say. “So does that mean I should try annoy you more?”

Her expression immediately hardens into her typical glare. “There’s only so much I can tolerate before I unleash my army of fanboys upon you to deliver my wrath.”

“Oh god.” I have way too many memories of Rima’s fanboys dangerously glowering at me whenever I’m seen with her. It’s kind of scary how often I see them, actually. “Anything but that, please.”

“Good.” Rima smiles, looking quite satisfied. Then she sets down down her spoon, slightly leaning forward. “Now, can I ask you a question?”

“Hm?”

“Were you Character Changed?” She gazes at me steadily. Strangely, it’s not a look of irritation or spite. Instead, her eyes are searching, like she’s genuinely seeking an answer.

“‘Character Changed’?” I blink, instinctively feigning confusion. But I’m pretty sure I already know what she’s referring to. “You mean...”

“When I was getting off the bus,” she says, eyes flickering to the side for a split second, almost like she’s flustered mentioning it. If she is, she’s hiding it well. “The stupid thing you said.”

“Oh.” I slightly smile. “No, I wasn’t Character Changed. It was me.”

Rima looks at me, and then lets out a small groan. “Your Guardian Character’s a shameless flirt, but I didn’t know that  _ you  _ were, too.”

“It was the perfect opportunity, though.” I laugh. “Sorry, but it was just too tempting.”

She rolls her eyes. “You’re becoming more and more like Rhythm each day.”

“I know. It’s unhealthy,” I say with a sigh. “Help me, Rima.”

“Hey!” Rhythm floats down to pout at us. “Don’t say it like it’s a bad thing!”

I glare at him. “How is it a good thing?”

Rhythm smugly grins at me. “Well, I’m popular with the girls.”

“We clearly have different priorities here,” I mutter.

“Nagihiko’s already popular with girls though,” Rima says, matter-of-factly. “He has a fanclub with like three million members. Although I’m pretty sure that at least a third of them are guys.”

“Uh... I think they just mistake me for Nadeshiko,” I say with a small laugh. “And I don’t really care about being popular.”

“As long as one girl likes you, then you’re fine, right?” Rima says, head tilted slightly. I just blink at her for a few moments, taken aback by how straightforwardly she said it.

“You still remember that?” I finally ask. We had the exact same conversation a few months ago, before our graduation ceremony. It was a pretty nice one.

I think that was when I started looking at Rima more.

“Of course.” Rima smiles. “All the more to blackmail you with.” Despite what she’s saying, her smile’s actually... friendly. It’s the warm smile that always makes me feel like it was worth it to endure the usual coldness she treats me with, if it meant that I could see it. 

Something inside of me stops thinking rationally.

“I never said who she was,” I say. I gaze at her, searching the depths of her eyes for some kind of answer. Or a response.

“I don’t want to know,” she scoffs, but her eyes darts away hesitantly. Anxiously. 

_ “I’m not ready to know.” _

The unspoken words that linger in the hush after that is pretty clear. That’s understandable, especially with the way she responded to Kirishima’s confession last year. 

She’s not ready for any of this yet. I need to give her more time.

“Sorry.” I lean back in my chair, stretching. “That was too sudden.” 

Rima continues staring at me. “She’s not Amu, right?”

It’s my turn to be surprised. I thought she’d be relieved for me to stop, but now,  _ she’s  _ the one who’s venturing into this topic.

“She’s... not Amu.” I hold her gaze.

Rima doesn’t break contact, and then that’s when the rational part of me comes to its senses, panicked and disgruntled.

I  _ told  _ myself last night that I wouldn’t do anything rash when we go out for parfaits the next day. To not do anything that’d make Rima feel uncomfortable—especially if I wanted to continue doing things like this with her.

Why can I never stop myself from showing my feelings around her?

Stupid.

Then, suddenly, Rima’s expression becomes amused. “Eat your parfait. You’ve barely eaten it.”

“Oh—” I blink, then look down. She’s right. It’s barely half done.

“You’re so bad.” Rima rolls her eyes, but a teasing smile remains on her face. “If you don’t finish it, I’m going to get mad.”

I slowly eat a spoonful of my parfait.

“I’m the one who bought it though,” I mutter, taking another bite.

“Don’t waste food,” she says simply, holding up her empty parfait cup. “See? I’m already done.”

It doesn’t take too long for me to finish my parfait. I look back up at Rima, who’s idly scrolling through her phone. Then it rings, and she quickly answers it. “Hello?”

I pick up both empty parfait cups make my way towards the trash can.

“Nagi, that was so smooth,” Rhythms whispers to me, grinning. “I’m proud of you.”

“Thanks, I guess.” I stare down at the empty cups. “I hope she doesn’t hate me after this, though. She’s the one who changed the topic.”

“Nah. If anything, she just didn’t know how to react to it.” Rhythm gives me a thumbs up. “I’m getting good vibes, trust me. I’m a pro at this type of stuff.”

I let out a huff. “If you say so, you stupid flirt...”

When I return to the table, Rima has all her things packed, her schoolbag swung across her shoulder. “Sorry, I need to go now.” She tucks her phone into her pocket. “My mother’s waiting outside.”

“Oh, okay.” I smile, even though can’t help but feel a small stone of disappointment form inside of me. “See you tomorrow.”

Rima regards me curiously for a second, and then smiles back.

“I said you were a mediocre kind of different,” she says, “but you’re actually more than mediocre.”

I blink, confused. But before I can say anything else, she runs out of the parfait shop.

But... what does that even mean?


	3. Chapter 3

It’s after I get into my car and it drives away when I fully begin to realize what had just occurred.

“Kusukusu, you know how I told him that he was above mediocre?” I say.

“Yeah?”

My voice drops to a whisper. “Doesn’t that kind of sound like a confession? A really lame and cringey one, but still?”

“Yup!” Kusukusu responds unnecessarily peppily. “Wasn’t that what you were doing, though? He was basically confessing to _you.”_

“Yeah, I know, but...” I groan. “What _I_ said wasn’t a confession. It’s not supposed to be, but...” There’s something in me that says it _was._ Right now I’m not so sure, but in the moment, I was sure that it was meant to be a confession.

Especially since the... _feeling—_ that restless, impatient, _giddy_ feeling—that I had yesterday when I thought about him came again while he was confessing. Except that it came a lot stronger this time.

“Why are you being confused about this?” Kusukusu giggles, her tiny body quivering in the air from laughter. “You had to be confessing, since you like him, right?”

“Excuse me,” I hiss. “We never decided on anything like that.”

“Why else were you thinking about him so much yesterday?” she points out.

“Because he flirted with me in a really stupid way,” I mutter.

“Why were you so flustered?”

I groan. Why is it that Kusukusu’s a happy-go-lucky airhead 110% of the time, but the moment we start talking about a topic that makes me want to dig a hole and live in it forever, she becomes so sharp and direct?

So, I decide to use my pro strat to dealing with situations like this. And by pro strat, I mean looking out of the window and staring intensely at a cloud and ignoring all my life problems—especially the life problem who’s currently barraging me with questions that I’d rather not answer.

Or find the answer to.

“Rima, you can avoid me, but you can’t avoid your feelings,” my life problem whispers into my ear.

“Yes I can,” I say. “Yesterday’s the only day I’ll ever take the bus. I’m going to be getting driven home again from now on, so I won’t have to end up alone with him. Ever again. Therefore, I have proved you wrong, and I _am_ able to avoid my feelings. Ha.”

“You do realize that you just admitted you like him, right?”

I intensify the “ignoring” part of my pro strat.

“Rima?” my mom suddenly asks. I jolt to attention.

“Yeah?”

“You know,” she says, “I’m thinking maybe you could take the bus from now on.”

“ _WHAT?”_

My mom quizzically glances at me through the front mirror.

“Oh. Um, I mean,” I say hastily. “Why all of a sudden?”

“You did it yesterday and it worked out fine, didn’t it? Your dad and I’ve been getting along better, so he won’t mind,” she says. “And it’ll be a lot easier on me and my work schedule if you get home by yourself.”

“Uh... sure. I’ll do it,” I say reluctantly. I have to accept—there’s no valid reason for me to say no, besides “ _I just kind of said something to a guy that could be interpreted as a confession and he also takes the bus home and I don’t want to be alone with him because he’s going to question me and I want to die.”_

Yeah, no. I’d rather not explain that to my mom.

“Thanks, Rima.” My mom smiles with relief. “Did you have fun going out for parfaits with your friend?”

“Yeah.”

“Who did you go with?”

“Uh.” I’m not sure if I should tell her that I went with a guy. A cross-dressing guy, on top of that. My parents have been in pretty good moods lately, but my dad’s face becomes fairly murderous whenever I mention anything remotely related to going anywhere with a guy. “Nadeshiko, one of the previous Guardians. She—He—She’s Amu’s friend.”

“Didn’t Nadeshiko leave for Europe?”

“Well, he—she came back pretty recently. I thought, uh, maybe it’d be nice to get to know her—him—”

“What?”

“ _Her,”_ I say, my voice almost rising to a shout. “Her. Know her better.” Oh god. My brain-tongue coordination just completely died towards the end. Hopefully my mom thinks that the road’s just extraordinarily bumpy today.

“Okay, Rima.” My mom giggles.

Well, that’s a good sign. She _never_ giggles.

The rest of the drive is fairly boring. We talk about my friends, school, homework, even a bit about gag manga, and then we’re at my house and parked in the garage.

“Thanks for the ride.” I open the car door.

“Rima?” my mom suddenly says.

“Hm?”

“I know you went with a guy.”

I choke on nothing and almost enter cardiac arrest.

“But don’t worry, I won’t tell your dad.” My mom giggles again. “Let’s go!” She gets out of the car and enters our house. I slowly follow her, dumbfounded.

Never mind. My mom giggling is a bad sign. A _very_ bad sign.

 

~/~/~

 

“Did you have fun with Nagihiko yesterday?”

_“Oh my god,”_ I hiss, shooting Amu a glare. “This is legit the tenth time you’ve asked me that today.”

Amu just grins. “Well, that’s because you never really answered me properly.”

“Because there’s nothing to tell you.” I roll my eyes. “We got parfaits. We ate them. They were good.”

“Are you sure?”

I initiate my pro strat again. From the reflection of the window, I see Amu waving her hand in an attempt to get my attention back.

“Come on, Rima,” Amu says. Fortunately though, Mr. Nikaidou’s in the middle of a lesson so she can’t make too much of a fuss. She sighs, resigning to staying at her seat and giving me a pointed frown.

It’s not that I don’t want to tell her about the, uh, interesting conversation Nagihiko and I had yesterday. It’s just that... I think she’ll get too excited. I’ve begun realizing why exactly my best friend always gets so enthusiastic whenever I mention Nagihiko.

And that’s just me _mentioning_ him. I really don’t want to find out what will happen if I tell her that I’ve come to realize that I may or may not like him.

Mr. Nikaidou stops writing on the chalkboard, turning to face the class. “And I think that’s all we’re going over for today.” He begins wiping the board. “Make sure you finish your plan for MyCreation by tonight. See you tomorrow!”

The screech of chairs and the sound of chatter fills the room as students pack up and leave the classroom. Amu and I leave the class together.

So I’m about to take the bus home again. Which means I’m about to see Nagihiko again. And be alone with him for longer than usual again. I wouldn’t call myself nervous, but I do feel a bit restless, which is why I hope, _maybe_ Amu _won’t_ spontaneously combust from excitement if I tell her what happened.

“Amu, what was it like when Tadase confessed?” I ask.

“Wh-Wh-Why?” Amu’s face turns into a visible hue of pink.

“Just wondering.”

“Well...” Amu says, her blush intensifying by an amusing amount. “He just came to my house and we talked for a bit.”

“Was it awkward?”

“Not really... Well, some other stuff happened afterwards and it was kind of bad for a bit but we got better,” Amu says. “It wasn’t really awkward though.”

“I see.”

“Why do you even want to know?” Amu mutters. “Since when were you interested in—” Realization lights up her eyes. “Wait, don’t tell me that something _did_ happen yesterday—”

“Nothing happened,” I say firmly. “Well, nothing _explicit_ happened _._ Unlike with Tadase, who I’m assuming said it straight out, what Nagihiko said was pretty vague and it was mostly just implications.”

“What? _What?”_ Amu stares at me, eyes widening. “You stupid! Why didn’t you tell me anything?”

I shrug. “Well, firstly, you’d probably die of fangirling too hard.”

“I wouldn’t,” she mutters. Then she sighs. “Okay, maybe I do get too excited over you guys. But I promise I won’t fangirl too hard, okay? Just tell me what happened.”

“Well, I think he confessed to me yesterday. And...” My voice dies a bit. “And I think I confessed to him, too.”

“You ‘think’?” So far, she’s taking it pretty calmly.

“I don’t know,” I say with a small groan. “I just wanted to say _something._ Like, there was just this feeling that kind of made me do it without thinking.”

“But do you like him?”

“Maybe.”

She blinks, looking stunned by how directly I said it. To be honest, I don’t know how I just said that so calmly. Maybe her calmness about this is calming me down.

We’re near the back exit of the school now, like we usually are before she walks home and I wait for my parents to pick me up.

But I’m taking the bus today.

Right.

I check my phone. _3:15._

Five minutes until the bus comes.

“I need to go. I’m taking the bus again.” I quickly tuck my phone into my pocket and turn around, before I pause. “Thanks.”

“No problem.” Amu smiles. “Don’t miss the bus, okay?”

“Yeah.”

I run to the front entrance of the school. It’s not too far, but I really don’t want to miss the bus. Especially since that I now know that it only comes once every half hour. I race out of the entrance and past the school gates.

There’s a crowd of people at the bus stop in the distance, which means that the bus didn’t come yet, fortunately. I slow down to a walk, slightly panting as I arrive at it. Unlike last time, it’s a lot more crowded, with dozens of students in the bus shelter and standing around on the sidewalk in small groups.

I try to find spot where I can lean against while I wait for the bus. I walk past the front of the bus shelter to reach the far side of it. Then I almost walk straight into Nagihiko as I turn the corner.

“Rima?”

He’s leaning against the side of the bus shelter, giving me a funny look.

“Oh.” I pause. “You’re here?”

“Well, I do take the bus every day.” He shrugs. “Shouldn’t I be asking _you_ why you’re here?”

“I’m taking the bus home from now on, apparently. According to my mom.”

“Oh.” He slightly nods with acknowledgement as I make my way to lean on the bus shelter wall beside him. I stare down at my shoes, expecting for him to say something. He doesn’t say anything though, an a silence falls over us.

For the first time ever, it’s actually kind of awkward.

I let my gaze flicker to him for a second. He staring into the distance, blankly fidgeting with his bus ticket.

“ _So you actually remembered to bring a bus ticket this time.”_ Before I realize it, I already come up with a remark I can say to him. When I say it, he’ll laugh, and then reply with something like how maybe he should’ve forgotten to bring a bus ticket again, depending on how Rhythm-like he decides to be today. I’ll probably just roll my eyes and shoot him another death glare like always, and he’ll laugh again.

We’ll have a normal, fun interaction like we usually do.

Why am I hesitating so much?

“So what did you mean when you said I was ‘above mediocre’?” he suddenly says.

I look at him, a bit surprised. I guess I’m glad he broke the silence, but what he just asked me is kind of a large contributor to why I’ve been considering living in a hole for the past day.

“What did _you_ mean,” I manage to retort, “when you said that you never told me who that girl was?”

He slightly winces. “Uh... you can ignore what I said if you want.”

“What?” I blink. “Why?”

“You might be uncomfortable with it.” He shrugs. “Or... or something. I don’t know.”

“Well, I guess you did kind of look like you wanted to die after saying it,” I muse, unable to stop amusement from slipping into my voice.

“Thanks, Rima. I really needed you to tell me that,” he mutters. “As if I didn’t regret my life decisions already.” He sighs, his gaze darting to the ground. “And about what I said yesterday... I’m pretty sure you already know what I mean. Meant. Which is why I’m perfectly fine with you completely ignoring it if it makes you feel weird. Okay?”

Seeing Nagihiko Fujisaki this restless and almost flustered is definitely a very interesting sight. It’s really tempting to just tease him and see how much more I can ruffle him... I think I can now understand why he normally likes to irritate me so much.

“It’s fine. It’s not weird.” I shrug. “I basically said the same thing to you, so it doesn’t matter.”

“You did?” He stares at me. “What are you talking about?”

“When I said that you were above mediocre.” My voice wavers a bit. “I meant the same thing.”

He’s silent, blinking. I don’t know if it’s from realization or shock or confusion.

“Wait, so...” he finally says. “What does that mean?”

One thing I’ve noticed is that, unlike with Amu and Tadase, when Nagihiko and I talk, it’s a lot more... tentative. Nothing’s ever said too plainly or blatantly. Our intentions are usually covered by hidden messages and quips and implications, so none of us never really know exactly what the other is thinking or truly means.

I’m not too sure why I decide to stop.

“I’ve tried to confess to you _two_ times already,” I mutter, “and you’re still confused?”

Nagihiko blinks again, like he still hasn’t managed to process what I said.

“I like you, okay?” My voice is stable now. Fierce, almost.

He stares at me, eyes widening a bit. “Rima—”

Soft screeching interrupts him as the bus arrives at our stop with a low rumble. Sighing, I get up and make my way over to the bus’s open doors. “Let’s go.”

Nagihiko follows me, standing in line behind me.

“Rima?” he says after a few moments as we wait for the passengers to get off.

“What?” I turn back to look at him.

He grins. “Can I borrow a bus ticket?”

I blink, but then a smile forms on my face before I realize it. “You know you’ll have to pay me back, right?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hAhAHA I had this ending in mind ever since I started this story. >:)  
> Sorry it took so long for me to update this, but I hope everyone enjoyed it nonetheless. Thanks for reading!


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